Cowboys beat Hoyas to claim third place

Robert Collias

Staff Writer

rcollias@mauinews.com

Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans gets between Georgetown’s Bradley Hayes and Jagan Mosely for a layup in the first half of the Cowboys’ 97-70 win over the Hoyas in Wednesday’s third-place game. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

LAHAINA — Oklahoma State rebounded from its first loss of the season pretty well.

The Cowboys claimed third place in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Wednesday, beating Georgetown 97-70 at the Lahaina Civic Center.

The lopsided win followed a 32-point loss on Tuesday to North Carolina, No. 4 in The Associated Press rankings.

“I think the one thing that we know is we played three good basketball teams in three consecutive days,” said Brad Underwood, in his first season as Oklahoma State’s coach. “If nothing else we now know what we have to get better at when we get home. We’re still a long ways away … We’re ultimately still trying to establish our culture.”

The Hoyas (2-4) scored the first eight points of the game, prompting a timeout from Underwood, who subbed in four players — including Jeffrey Carroll, who would finish with 20 points.

OKLAHOMA St. Cowboys 97

“I made kind of a line shift adjustment,” Underwood said.

Jawun Evans scored 13 points after totaling 65 in the Cowboys’ first two games on Maui. He shot 5-for-15 from the field, but had six assists and two steals.

The Cowboys had 19 steals and finished with a 28-11 advantage in turnovers — as well as a 41-11 edge in points off turnovers.

“Yesterday, rebounds was the story of the game, but we did a little bit better job with that,” said Hoyas coach John Thompson III, whose team was outrebounded 50-21 in Tuesday’s loss to No. 16 Wisconsin. “Today, it was turnovers. That’s what they do, they make you do that. We had to handle it better and we didn’t.”